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After a long hiatus where my post-a-week resolution has been firmly thrown to the wind and neglected in its entirety I actually have some news to share! Yes, I know – you can’t believe that the last few months has been entirely devoid of anything interesting to say, but unless you want to hear me bleating on about how long the house sale was taking (five and a half months!) or the fact that we are running our business with only three people instead of five then you’d have been sadly disappointed.

Actually I did have a week’s break in the Bordeaux region of France with the Tuesday Night Dinner gang (think “wine and cheese” and you’ll be a good way there!). It was a lovely break, far from anywhere, in a beautiful chateaux called Rainier du Chais. There was lots of communal cooking and chatting but we also indulged our childish side by visiting a waterpark. We marvelled at a sand dune called the Dune du Pyla, which, at 107m above sea level is the highest in Europe, and a few of us visited Lascaux II, which is a recreation of the original Lascaux cave. It contains exact replicas of the cave paintings and even the rock itself is accurate to within 5mm, including the bits that have fallen off in the original cave! It was an amazing experience, particularly as you can no longer visit the original Lascaux cave due to deterioration of the paintings inside. The replica cave even has a wheelchair accessible floor so it’s great that everyone can get to see this. And there are many other caves to visit in their original state but be warned – you do need to book beforehand otherwise you won’t get in. A return trip to this valley in the Dordogne is definitely required. I would love to see more caves (no – we didn’t book and didn’t get in any others), see if there is any climbing about – there must be as the cliffs are huge! – and of course more canoeing. Our canoeing trip on the Dordorgne was one of the best days I spent that holiday – so relaxing and peaceful!

Painting from Lascaux II (from Ursi's Blog)

But the best news yet (drum roll) is that, finally, FINALLY, I have exchanged contracts on the new house.

Thank.

Goodness.

I really didn’t think it was going to happen. Having lived out of two suitcases at various friends houses since March it will be so nice to have my own things around me again. I’m full of ideas about what I want to do and get for the house but I’m keen that as much of it as possible is second hand or reclaimed furniture that just needs some TLC. I have already started with a set of sack scales and an oak dining table – more on that later! Moving date is mid August – very exciting.

In other news, Big G has gone off to Krygyzstan for a month to hopefully make some new first ascents. It was a very early morning last Saturday to get them to the airport for 6:30am. I’m sending them weather forecasts and updating their blog. You can follow them on Twitter (@KyrgyzExped2011) or like them on Facebook for updates. I wish the four of them good health, good weather and good luck for their expedition, and look forward to having them back safe and sound on 23rd August.